BARTON, GEORGE BURNETT (1836-1901) was a son of William Barton, a Sydney sharebroker and brother of Sir Edmund Barton (prime minister and chief justice of Australia). He read law at the Middle Temple from 1856, was called to the bar in 1860, and shortly afterwards commenced to practise in Dunedin.

While engaged in journalism in Australia he wrote (1866) a literary history of New South Wales for the Melbourne exhibition. In 1868 Barton succeeded Vogel as editor of the Otago Daily Times, a position he held for almost three years. His administration was marked by a prosecution for criminal libel arising out of an article which appeared on 3 Oct 1870 charging the Government with deliberately delaying telegrams intended for the Times until a summary of them had been communicated to opposition newspapers supporting the Government. Charges were also made against the personnel of the Government and officials of the Telegraph department. The case was heard by the magistrate (23 Feb-30 Mar 1871) and Barton was committed for trial. He had meanwhile retired from the editorship of the Times to be free to attend the proceedings, and the Government abandoned the prosecution. Barton edited The New Zealand Jurist and Practical Statistics of New Zealand.

Returning to New South Wales he did some more journalism, was a lecturer in English at Sydney University, and published Poets and Prose Writers (1886). He began to edit certain historical publications for the centenary of New South Wales, and one volume of history from the historical records (1783-89) was published by him. He also wrote the life and times of William Charles Wentworth (for serial publication). In 1891 Barton published an annotated copy of the draft constitution for the projected Australian federation, and in 1892 a complete digest (which appeared in the Yearbook of Australia). At the time of his death (on 12 Sep 1901) he was on the staff of the Goulburn Herald at Goulburn.

Paul; Austral. Encycl.; Otago Daily Times, Feb-Mar 1871; Sydney Morning Herald, 14 Sep 1901.

Reference: Volume 1, page 39

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